More criminals may deserve the death penalty than get it, but it is an impractical method of punishment we do not have to use anymore.
Alabama is executing a death-row inmate on Thursday with a new method using nitrogen hypoxia gas, a vapor meant to suffocate the inmate. The state tried and failed to execute Kenneth Smith in 2022 on his originally scheduled execution date. This new procedure has been criticized by some as “experimental,” by Smith as cruel and unusual punishment, and by the United Nations as a violation of international law.
While the death penalty has grown increasingly unpopular, it is still legal in 23 states, albeit rarely practiced in some of those. Five states maintain the practice of execution by firing squad, the last use of which was by Utah in 2010.
This topic brings to mind a popular yet often overlooked question: Does capital punishment accomplish anything statistically, or does it create more problems than it supposedly solves? The answer to this question is the latter. It’s not that certain criminals do not deserve their death sentences. I would argue that more criminals should receive such a sentence than often do. The fact of the matter is that capital punishment is completely impractical.
A common assumption people often make is that the fear of receiving the death penalty as a sentence serves as a deterrence for severe crimes. This is not true. Many studies have shown there is no correlation between states that have and apply the death penalty and lower crime rates. In some cases, the fear of execution can increase the possibility of a violent crime taking place. Life in prison causes less reactionary crime while also being equally harsh, if not arguably harsher.
Capital punishment is also a financial inconvenience. Because carrying out the death penalty has to be passed through so many more procedures and takes more time to process than life imprisonment, it ends up being significantly more expensive than the latter. It saves money and time, given that it is actually carried out.
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If a lack of capital punishment is not the reason why crime rates have skyrocketed in the past few years, then what is? Well, Washington, D.C., is a great example. It is now the crime capital of the United States. This was caused by soft-on-crime policies and the shrinking of the city’s police force by its Democratic officials.
The death penalty is a misunderstood and faulty method of punishment that damages more than just the life of a death-row inmate. Alabama and other states should consider alternative, more resourceful, yet equally agonizing forms of punishment to deter heinous crimes. Not because Smith fears for his mortal coil and not because the U.N. got offended, but because it is simply impractical.